Pencil Portraits Drawn From Photos - Pencil Portrait Artist Darla Dixon

People are always telling me they wish they could draw but they "can't."
I disagree...Yes you have the ability to draw, you just haven't tapped into it.

When you sit down to draw, you are probably telling yourself in your mind "I can't do it - I can't draw, I have no creativity..."

your brain is so busy making that come true that you CAN'T do it. That goes for anything in life.
Your self-talk will rule you every time.

It's like that old saying, whether you think you can't or if you think you can...either way, you'll be right.

Try this:

Take a photo and turn it upside down and draw it upside down.
Just focus on the shapes and the light and the dark.
When you turn it over, you'll be amazed at what you have drawn!

Let's pretend for a minute that it was a picture of Abraham Lincoln. We have preconceived notions of what Abraham Lincoln looks like, andif you tried to draw him right side up, your brain would tell you
"Ohmigosh I'm drawing Abraham Lincoln, I can't draw, and I DEFINITELY CAN'T DRAW ABRAHAM LINCOLN!"

But if you draw him upside down, then your brain is just going to break the image down into shapes and dark and light areas, and you'll just work on the shapes and you will be able to do it.

There is a book called The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards.
This is where I heard about this, and it's very true.

So grab a picture you like out of a magazine and try it.

Darla
http://darladixon.com/

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